Chapter 111

"We still have a problem," Diana said. "I doubt if Billy has ever used a litter box. So how are we going to train him to use it and not pee on the carpet? Since there aren't any pet stores in Winter Park, I guess we can order a kennel on the Internet and have it overnighted, but as late as it is, it will still be day after tomorrow before it gets here..."

"Yeah, we were lucky the grocery store even had litter boxes. But we're ahead of you about the kennel," Jeff said. "Arlene had an idea while we were in the store. We saw a cat at the Sperman's when we visited them that time. (The neighbors who live a mile down the mountain road from the Retreat.) Arlene called them and they have a small kennel they are loaning us. We'll stop on the way back and pick it up. Junior can live in it until he becomes accustomed to using a litter box."

A few minutes later, Jeff was obviously having a tense discussion with security as the caravan made its way up the mountain, but from the look on his face, he got his way.

"What?" the Queen asked.

Jeff frowned. "The General is..." he aborted what he was going to say because of Selina listening, then, "Uh, the General is taking security a little too seriously. From scans, the security team knows that the Spermans are the only ones in their home at the moment. We are not going into their driveway with all the vehicles. These people are neighbors — good people. We will refrain from trampling on their privacy. They moved way up here to be where it's quiet, primarily to get away from the 'hustle and bustle of society, ' as Mr. Sperman put it. Besides, we've already caused an increase in the traffic on our little road with crews to work on the ski lodge and the retreat, not to say anything about all the security vehicles coming and going. I need to apologize for that while we're here today. Somehow, we need to do something special for the Spermans to make up for any inconvenience we've caused."

Diana smiled over at her husband. "I think you're forgetting something. You have already done something special for them, something that no amount of money could buy. Little One, remember? Now, despite the Sperman's age, and health problems, they are able to ski the advanced slopes again."

Jeff chuckled. "Yeah, there is that, and I wonder what else has changed about them, hmmm?"

"Jeff," his Queen admonished, then quietly, "Little ears, remember?" she said cutting her eyes toward the back.

"'Little ears, '" Selina quoted. "Those 'little ears' hear quite well, thank you. Are you implying that your elderly neighbors have now resumed sexual relations after being exposed to Little One?"

"Uh," Jeff said, intelligently.

Diana grinned at her spouse. "She reminds me of Arlene when she was quite young."

"Oh, you mean, uh..." Jeff said, chuckling.

Diana let out a quiet giggle. "Yeah, when the preacher, his wife and another couple of women were being served in our living room by Arlene while we, uh..."

"What are you two talking about?" Margaret said. "Tell us the story."

"Uh, maybe we'll tell it later..." Jeff said.

Selina piped up with, "As I mentioned before, my parents have frequently been subjected to my curiosity. I was, and still am, very curious about sex; therefore, I have spent time researching the subject in depth. My parents always locked their bedroom door when they had sex, but I had no trouble enrolling in, and graduating from, a locksmith course taught on the net. I bought a complete set of tools, including an excellent set of lock picks. Their bedroom door was trivial to open. I am well aware of sex and all its connotations, and I have watched a number of sex videos on the Internet, but real subjects certainly added to my knowledge base. At present, sex seems to be a rather large expenditure of energy for little reward, though. And for reasons I do not fully understand, my mother tends to scream at orgasm. I am, indeed, anxiously awaiting the change in my body when I reach puberty so that I might further research the subject. Surely my Prime, you can modify your language so that these 'little ears' won't be embarrassed by your dissertation."

Diana turned around in her seat to stare at Selina. "We had a similar problem with Arlene when she was about your age. I turned her over my knees and paddled her butt," the Queen said ominously. "Her curiosity took a big hit. Pun intended."

Selina blinked, then smiled at Diana. "Yes, My Queen. I would never consider bypassing a locked door in our home."

Diana wasn't so sure about that, and her frown communicated her doubt splendidly.

There was a moment of silence, then Margaret cleared her throat, "Well, Jeff, tell us the story."

"Oh, not much story to tell. Diana and I didn't have a great deal of time alone together because of school and work. Sometimes the only chance we had to make love was in the daytime, so we had a rule for Arlene. We would tell her that mommy and daddy were going in the bedroom to make love, and for her to not knock on the bedroom door unless the phone rang, or there was an emergency. We were living with Diana's parents then, and didn't have a phone in our bedroom. We had defined every type of emergency we could think of, so we thought we had everything covered — fire, someone getting hurt, etc. So anyway, one Sunday afternoon, Diana and I were ... indisposed, but I thought I heard voices. I put on a pair of pants and stepped out of the bedroom.

"Well, I could see part of the living room from the doorway, and there sat four people all dressed up in their Sunday best. It was the local preacher, his wife and two of the women from his church. They had knocked on the door and Arlene had let them in. Being a good hostess, she had dragged — she couldn't pick it up — a two-liter bottle of coke into the living room, and had gotten glasses out of the dishwasher. She had all the glasses lined up on the floor and was struggling to pour everyone a coke when I opened the door. Apparently she had just told them that we were in the bedroom making love and she could not disturb us unless there was an emergency. Now, keep in mind this was a three-year-old little girl.

"When I locked eyes with the preacher, my hair was down in my face, I was buckling my pants and I didn't have a shirt on. I really don't know who was more embarrassed — the preacher or me. What I had been doing was blatantly obvious. The women with him were instantly busy heading for the door, while the preacher stammered out who he was, quickly apologized for disturbing us, then turned and almost ran out the door after the women. Di laughed until she almost peed herself. It took me years to view the incident as funny, though, and we never did attend that church."

"By the time I got to the front door," Diana added, "they were in their car and backing down the driveway. We didn't get any more visitations from them."

"But..." Selina said, frowning. "Why were you embarrassed, and why did they suddenly leave? Arlene had welcomed them, and sex is a natural function of a marriage, is it not?"

There was a long pause. When it became obvious that neither Jeff nor Diana was going to answer Selina, Frank finally cleared his throat. "Arlene was three?" he asked.

Jeff sniggered. "Yep. And she didn't spill a drop of the coke, either."

"I would love to hear the preacher's version of that story," Margaret said, laughing.

Diana broke in, "The incident didn't bother Arlene one bit, even after she was old enough to realize what had been going on, but I thought for a while that it had marked Jeff for life," she finished, giggling.

When they got to the Sperman's drive, Jeff turned in, followed shortly by the SUV that Arlene was riding in. When they parked in the front, Steve Sperman opened his front door and stood waiting for them. As Jeff started to get out, he looked back over his shoulder. "Come on, Selina. I want you to meet the Spermans. They're really nice people."

"Certainly, My Prime," Selina said. Then turning to Margaret, "Mrs. Wainwright, would you please hold Billy? I shall return shortly."

Margaret took the grumbling kitten as Jeff, having walked around the vehicle, took Selina's hand, worrying she would fall on a patch of ice. Diana and Arlene exchanged knowing smiles that Jeff didn't catch.

On the porch, they were quickly ushered into the house where Diana introduced Steve and Marcy to Selina. Selina stuck her little hand out to shake hands, just as an adult would. Marcy took Selina's hand, then bent to hug her, as did Steve.

Selina looked up at the couple. "I certainly appreciate the loan of your kennel. I shall purchase one on the net and will return your property as soon as possible."

The Spermans exchanged a look, then, "Honey, you don't have to be in a hurry to return the kennel. We used it to train our cat several years ago when she was a kitten. We have no use for the kennel, and I see no reason for you to buy your own. Just keep it until you're done with it."

"Yes, Ma'am. That is certainly kind of you. I will do that."

The Sperman's tried to get the family to sit in the living room, but Diana said they had things to do at home and couldn't stay this time.

"So, how are you guys feeling?" Jeff said.

Both of the Spermans instantly looked hard at Jeff. "I think you know exactly how we're feeling," Marcy said. "We look ten years younger, and suddenly our bodies are fit again. We've even dragged our exercise equipment back out. All this started immediately after we spent the night with you."

Jeff cleared his throat, "Uh, I would appreciate it if you would..."

"No need. No need," Steve said. "We know you're an inventor. If you want anyone to know, you will tell them. We have each worked on secret projects, and no one not involved in the project ever heard a thing from us. We appreciate what you have done, and certainly will not dishonor your trust by our loose talk. A couple of acquaintances noticed when we went skiing, but we told them we had started an exercise regimen accompanied by the intake of a whole range of supplements. All that is true, of course. We're pretty much loners, anyway, so they seemed to accept the reason for us appearing to be younger, and told us to keep up whatever we're doing."

"We appreciate it," Jeff said.

Steve stepped down the hall for a moment, then was quickly back with a folded wire kennel. "It just opens like so," Steve said, partially unfolding the kennel until it was readily evident how it worked.

"Here's a book that came with it," Marcy said as she handed it to Selina. "It tells how to care for your kitten and how to easily train him or her to use a litter box."

"I considered bringing Billy in to introduce you, but he seems to be feral and would not be a good guest at present. I will bring him to visit after he receives his training, and proves himself trustworthy."

"We will be looking forward to that," Marcy said.

Diana hung back as the family walked out the front. The Queen leaned over and whispered into Marcy's ear. "We haven't tested her, but we suspect her IQ is off the charts. I'll call you tomorrow and we can have a chat."

"Please do that," Marcy said, her face breaking into a smile.

THE RETREAT

Jeff told the Lieutenant to back their vehicles as close to the rear door as they could. Jeff backed his vehicle into the inside garage, and then Laura, Helen and Bill did the same thing.

"Where do you want your loot?" Jeff asked his Queen with a grin as he opened the hatch to their vehicle.

"It's all hopelessly mixed by now," Diana replied. "Just put everything in the living room. We'll sort it out a little later."

Jeff passed the information on to the Lieutenant via radio. When Jeff put his load of packages in the corner of the living room, he told the computer to open the back door for the security team. With all the family to help, plus the security officers, the vehicles were unloaded in short order.

As they stood looking at the pile of sacks, "Well done, Lieutenant," Jeff said as he put a hand on Mayfield's shoulder. "Sorry about the incident coming up here. I should have grabbed Selina before she made it out the door. She surprised me. She realized her mistake, and has apologized for it, but I'll have a talk with her and all my family. That, of course, was just a stray kitten that someone had thrown out, but the possibility exists that it could have been a ploy to get us out of our vehicles, and we would have been vulnerable to sniper fire. I personally think that the attack here was a onetime thing, but better safe than sorry. I will prepare my family so we never do anything like that again."

"No problem, Colonel. It gave us another chance to test our training. We're coming together as a team more every day."

Jeff stood watching as the Lieutenant walked down the hall and turned the corner to catch up with his people.

While the two men were talking, Arlene had gone by carrying the kennel. Selina had walked beside her clutching the kitten to her chest with one hand and carrying one of the smaller bags from the grocery store in the other. Jeff grabbed a bag of cat litter, a full-sized plastic litter box, and the smaller, eight by eight-inch disposable baking pan he had gotten at the grocery store, then hurried to Selina's suite.

When Jeff got to Selina's rooms, Arlene had the kennel set up and was sliding the bottom pan/floor in. He opened the bag of cat litter and poured some into the small pan, then set it in the cage.

Selina kissed Billy on the nose, prompting another of his growls, which she ignored. Putting him inside the cage and closing the door, she continued to talk to him as if he were human. "Now you behave while I fill your water bowl. You have ingested milk and it is logical that you will need to use the bathroom shortly. You will not be allowed to leave your kennel on your own until you become proficient with the use of your litter pan. I have purchased carpet cleaning materials, but I will be displeased if I have to use them. Now you should investigate your new home while I obtain water for you."

Selina took the water dish out of the grocery bag and went to the bathroom to fill the dish. Jeff put the full-size litter pan close to the kennel and filled it halfway with cat litter, then put the hood on the pan.

The kitten, wary of the shiny aluminum foil pan in his kennel, finally got up the nerve to cautiously smell around it, then apparently finding it to his liking, climbed in. After digging a little in the litter, he squatted and peed. Selina returned and put the partially filled bowl in Billy's cage. Sitting cross-legged on the carpet, she quickly thumbed through the booklet that Mrs. Sperman had given her.